Fuel price adjustment: ECC approves Rs17.15 bn recovery from power consumers

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has granted approval for recovery of an outstanding amount of Rs17.15 billion on account of fuel price adjustment from electricity consumers.

Official sources confirmed that in line with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment, the government approved slapping Rs2.27 per unit fuel charge adjustment (FCA) for recovering the outstanding amount.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) had already approved jacking up base electricity price of Rs1.39 per unit. Now another increase in the electricity prices is on the cards.

According to a summary, tabled before the ECC, the federal government might issue guidelines to regulator Nepra and also require it to reconsider its decision dated Aug 7, 2020, to allow recovery of pending FCA of Rs17.15 billion as prior year adjustment in a rebasing decision, which is under process at Nepra currently.

The ECC also granted approval for the export of wheat flour to Afghanistan while cancelling floating tenders for importing more wheat even through government to government keeping in view sufficient stocks available in the country.

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan chaired a meeting of the ECC here on Thursday. The meeting considered and recommended a summary, presented by the Ministry of Industries & Production regarding late payment surcharge of operations of fertilizer plants at SNGPL network between Sept 2018 to Nov 2019, with a direction to seek prior approval from the Board of SNGPL.